Mick McCarthy praised his Wolves side for taking Arsenal on for 20-odd minutes – but admitted they provided the Gunners their spark for victory.
The Molineux chief was unhappy at the first goal, scored off Ronald Zubar’s thigh after he conceded a free-kick when Wolves had been the better side.
“Anyone who saw the scoreline of 3-0 at half-time would have thought we’d have been mullered, but that wasn’t the case,” said McCarthy.
“Everyone was expecting Arsenal to carve us open, pick a hole in us or do something brilliant. They were looking for a spark and it came from us in giving them a chance. I told the lads well done for 30 minutes when we took them on and I thought we were terrific. We then gave a free-kick away which should have been a throw-in and that allowed the ball in the box which resulted in a corner and then the ball in our net.
“I thought we’d been great up until then but of course they got the (first) goal. If we’d got in front we could maybe have gone 4-3-3 to try to stop them playing, but when you’re 1-0 down you have to keep going and keep your strikers up there.”
McCarthy admitted Arsenal were the best side they had faced this season.
“They have been the best attacking side against us so far,” he added. “Apart from Manchester City in the first half that’s as good as it has been. I’m probably doing us a disservice because we gifted them a goal and then after that they did look a very good side. We were the masters of our own downfall. Once they got the goal, they relaxed a bit and picked their passes. They’re a good side.”
McCarthy refused to blame Wayne Hennessey for the first goal after the keeper failed to go for the corner that went in off Zubar. “I’ll have to look again at the goals but Wayne’s been magnificent,” he said.
“For somebody who came through the ranks and is still young he’s been outstanding. Even if I thought he’d been at fault I would never be criticising him publicly.”
The boss was full of praise for Jody Craddock, whose third goal of the season made him the club’s joint-top scorer with Kevin Doyle. “He scores because he attacks the ball,” he said.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted Wolves surprised them by being the best side to start with. “Overall, I felt Wolves had the stronger start to the game which wasn’t what we expected,” he said. “But it made it easier when we scored the goals and we controlled the game apart from the first 10-15 minutes.
“After that, our technical superiority prevailed and enabled us to control the game. We could have scored more but Wolves fought until the end. We hit top gear in patches but not always. We eased off a bit at 3-0.”
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